electrivity

'Intelliworks' corrals the energy hog in you

Now that we're all sufficiently terrified that global warming will turn Kansas City into a beach town, there's been a wave of technological efforts designed to put us on an energy diet. Likewise, a proliferation of gadgets have hit the market claiming to monitor our piggish ways, though most of them are fairly limited in scope.

But a device called the "Intelliworks" claims to act as a traffic cop for the entire household or workplace by controlling the total flow of electricity. While plugged into a regular wall socket, "it automatically optimizes the voltage and … Read more

Electric scooters invade Texas

You've heard a lot about electric sports cars. Now a new generation of electric scooters is coming to town.

The Maxi-Scooter from Vectrix, an all-electric scooter that can go from 0 to 50 miles per hour in 6.8 seconds, will soon be available in the U.S., Jeff Morrill, director of marketing for the Americas for the company, said at the Clean Energy Venture Summit taking place this week in Austin, Texas.

Like electric car companies such as Tesla Motors, Vectrix is attempting to show that electric vehicles are a practical option for getting around town and that … Read more

Mitsubishi backs electric cars

In an indication that Mitsubishi is serious about building a production electric car, sooner rather than later, it entered into a joint venture with Japanese battery maker GS Yuasa to make large lithium-ion batteries. We've seen Mitsubishi's MIEV technology on cars at the 2005 Tokyo Motor Show and the 2006 Detroit Motor Show, and it's pretty cool. Mitsubishi developed in-wheel electric motors that can be used in all four wheels of a car. The result is a very flexible all-wheel-drive car where torque can be finely tuned for each wheel, depending on the current driving conditions. Mitsubishi … Read more

Tesla geek-out in Silicon Valley

The new Tesla Roadster is getting some buzz. Being built as an all-electric car, Tesla's engineering aims to minimize resource consumption per mile. CNET News.com reporter Stefanie Olsen watched a Tesla engineer answer questions from a roomful of Silicon Valley engineers. He said his Tesla will go 4,900 miles on 1 megawatt of energy while a hydrogen car would go about 1,800 miles because of the energy needed to produce the hydrogen.

The Tesla on display was the second engineering prototype. Last fall, CNET captured video of an earlier prototype.

Tesla has already sold 180 of … Read more

Promise of more efficient solar panels

There are two major problems with the current silicon panel technology used to generate electricity. For one, silicon is inefficient in converting solar energy. The thinner the silicon panel, the less efficient it becomes. Secondly, silicon panels make up about 45 percent of the total cost of current solar power installations. So thinner panels requiring less silicon would cut down on installation costs.

Now researchers in Australia say they've found a way to make silicon films, 1 to 2 microns thick, into more efficient energy converters. The trick is to impregnate the silicon film surface with small amounts of … Read more

A Lear that's meant for the water

There have been more than a few boats running on solar power that have made headlines, but we shouldn't forget that some plain-old electric vessels are plying the waters as well. And one in particular bears a name that's legendary in the world of private transportation, albeit not aquatic.

The "Lear 204" is the product of a partnership between boat builder Terry Baylor and his wife, Shanda Lear, whose father happens to be the founder of Learjet. Their 20.4-foot vessel, which runs on an electric motor, can do about 6 miles per hour and last … Read more

Charging for discharging: PG&E's electric-car potential

Plug-in electric cars have gotten a lot of column inches recently, thanks to the hoopla surrounding the unveiling of Chevy's Volt concept at this year's Detroit auto show. This week, the dream of AC-connected autos took a step closer to becoming reality as utility giant PG&E unveiled a Vehicle to Grid (V2G) technology allowing two-way transfer of electricity between electric vehicles and the grid. The technology, demonstrated at the Silicon Valley Leadership Group Alternative Energy Solutions Summit, would effectively turn idle electric cars into a source of electricity for homes and businesses, taking load demand off … Read more

Electric motorcycle smashes records

The KillaCycle, an all-electric motorcycle, is now the fastest electric vehicle of all time.

At a drag race in Chandler, Ariz., the bike completed a quarter mile in 8.168 seconds, breaking the six-year-old record of 8.801 held by Dennis Berube with an electric car for more than six years. The bike cranked it up to 155.87 miles an hour. Even more impressive, it hit this level of performance twice, on April 3 and April 4.

The bike is powered by 990 lithium ion cells from A123 Systems, a Massachusetts start-up that is also making batteries for General … Read more

Plug your PC into an elephant's booty

How about a heaping helping of visual tomfoolery to go along with your electricity?

Adrien Gard?re's vinyl wall-outlet surroundings make charging your gadgets or powering your PC a little more interesting. Jack right into a pig's snout, a puppy's nose, or even the sun-don't-shine area of a cow or elephant.

Unlike doing any of those things in real life, you won't need to take a shower afterwards or get a call from the ASPCA.

The vinyl pieces cost 33 euros each, or about $44.

ZAP goes four-wheeling

ZAP is giving four-wheeling enthusiasts a proverbial peek under the hood. The electric car maker just released some conceptual drawings of its ZAP-X Crossover SUV.

The ZAP-X Crossover SUV will feature all-wheel drive, with in-hub electric motors, a design that aims to deliver 644 horsepower and a top speed of 155 mph. But most electrical vehicle buyers have one thing in mind: "How far can I go, before I need to juice up?" The ZAP-X Crossover aims to reach a 350-mile range before it needs another 10-minute charge.

The price? $60,000. That's roughly the cost of two Honda Pilots. … Read more